¹Traverse the open places of Jerusalem,

And take a look and ascertain and find out

Whether you can find a man in her streets,

Whether there is anyone acting justly,

Seeking faithfulness,

And I will pardon the city.

²But if they say,

‘As the Lord lives’,

It will be

Because they are swearing falsely.”

³O Lord, are not your eyes for seeing faithfulness?

You have struck them without them feeling pain.

You have caused them to languish,

But they have refused to accept correction.

They have hardened themselves more than rock;

They have refused to return.

⁴So I said, “Certainly they are weak;

They have acted foolishly,

For they do not know the way of the Lord,

Or the justice of their God.

⁵I will betake myself to great men;

I will speak to them,

For they know the way of the Lord

– The justice of their God.

But they have altogether broken the yoke;

They have unshackled the bonds.

⁶That is why a lion from the forest will strike them,

And a wolf from the arid tracts will prey on them.

A leopard will lie in wait in their cities,

And everyone who goes out from them will be torn to pieces,

For their transgressions are many,

And their apostasies are immense.”

⁷“On what account should I pardon you?

Your sons have forsaken me

And have sworn by what are not gods.

And when I filled them with food,

They committed adultery

And converged on the house of a prostitute.

⁸They were like ruttish horses,

Wandering about lusting,

Each neighing after his neighbour's wife.

⁹Shall I not visit on account of these things?

Says the Lord,

And shall my being not be avenged

On a nation such as this?

¹⁰‘Go up onto her walls and demolish it,

But do not bring it to a complete end.

Remove its bulwarks

For they are not for the Lord.

¹¹For the house of Israel and the house of Judah

Have treacherously betrayed me’,

Says the Lord.

¹²They have acted deceitfully with the Lord and said,

‘He is not concerned.

No harm will come over us,

And we will not see sword or famine.’

¹³And the prophets are becoming wind,

And the word is not present among them.

So it shall be done to them.”

¹⁴That is why this is what the Lord God of hosts says:

“Because you have said these words,

I am about to make my words in your mouth fire,

And this people wood,

And it will consume them.

¹⁵I am about to bring a people over you from afar,

O house of Israel,

Says the Lord.

It is a strong nation,

It is an age-old nation

– A nation whose tongue you do not know,

And you will not understand what they say.

¹⁶Their quiver is like an open grave;

They are all warriors.

¹⁷And they will eat your harvest and your bread,

They will eat your sons and your daughters,

They will eat your sheep and your oxen,

They will eat your vine and your fig tree;

They will emaciate your fortified cities

In which you trust, with the sword.

¹⁸But neither in those days,

Says the Lord,

Will I bring you to a complete end.

¹⁹And it will come to pass that you will say,

‘In return for what

Has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’

And you will say to them,

‘Just as you forsook me

And served foreign gods in your land,

So you will serve foreigners in a land not yours.’

²⁰Report this in the house of Jacob,

And announce it in Judah,

And say,

²¹‘Now hear this, you foolish people,

And without a heart,

²²Do you not fear me?

Says the Lord.

Do you not tremble at the presence of me

Who have set sand as a border to the sea

– An age-abiding statute –

So that it will not pass over it?

And although its waves are turbulent,

They do not prevail,

And although they rage,

They do not pass over it.

²³But this people has a recalcitrant and rebellious heart.

They turn aside

And go their way.

²⁴And they have not said in their heart,

«Let us now fear the Lord our God

Who gives rain

– Both early rain and latter rain in its time.

He keeps statutory weeks and harvest-time for us.»

²⁵Your iniquities have caused these things to depart,

And your sins have held goodness back from you.

²⁶For among my people wicked men are found;

They lie in wait like the couching down

Of those who trap birds.

They set a trap;

They catch men.

²⁷Like a cage full of birds,

So their houses are full of deceit,

Which is how they become important

And become rich.

²⁸They become fat,

They have a shining complexion;

They have even transgressed in matters of the wicked one.

They do not execute justice

– Justice of the orphan –

And they become prosperous.

They do not do justice to the poor.

²⁹Shall I not visit on account of these things?

Says the Lord,

And shall my being not be avenged

On a nation such as this?

³⁰An astonishing and horrendous thing

Has taken place in the land.

³¹The prophets have prophesied falsely,

And the priests march hand in hand with them,

And my people love it like that.

So what will you do at its conclusion?’ ”

Reference(s) in Chapter 5: v.21 ↔ Mark 8:18.